One of the first signs of a business headed for decline, is poor customer service.
When we fail to deliver to our customers, their expectations around our product or service, they generally start to leave us for other options.
As business owners, we should always keep a close finger on the pulse of our customer service. For the three decades that I had my service-related businesses, I was constantly aware of what customers were feeling. I would often deal with customer complaints personally so that I clearly understood what the problems with my business were. It's true that I couldn't fix every complaint, however our business grew as a result of phenomenal customer service from my team.
This week, I approached a business asking about better rates than what I had been paying for some of their products and services in the past. I stopped by one of their business locations where I was told that they could only help me if I was interested in some of their other services. I left frustrated.
I decided to look at other ways to contact them. I went on their web page and someone started the chat with me. After about 10 minutes of online chat, they told me that I needed to call them at a particular number. I phoned and was told that due to high call volumes there would be a 20 minute wait. There was no option to leave my number for them to call me back so I stayed on hold for 45 minutes and was told consistently that my call was important. At the end of that time, a fellow came on who, after a 15-minute discussion, told me that I would have to phone another number the next day.
Apparently, this company experiences a higher volume of calls all the time, every day. I am not sure if this is a result of scheduling problems or planned annoyance, however, this time I was on hold for 54 minutes. Every two minutes a recording told me that my business was appreciated. I often swore back at the recording in disbelief.
After wasting hours of my life and several conversations with their operators in foreign lands, I made the decision that I was not a valued customer as they continued to say and decided to take my business elsewhere.
I am sure that at one time, the company did put customers first but some companies no longer feel that customer satisfaction and retention are valued.
History has repeatedly shown that when there is little competition, those providing goods or services in such marketplaces often take advantage of their situation to the detriment of the customers. My guess is that as long as the current marketplace limits the options of consumers, some companies will continue to focus on trying to attract new customers rather than to satisfy their current customers, unless share prices drop as a result of lost revenue.
I went with a different vendor and was greeted with a smiling face and excellent customer service. Not only did my representative make it easy for me, taking care of all the details, the store manager went over and beyond what was expected.
Customer service is usually the result of a cultural dynamic within an organization that starts at the top. When we fail to value customer service and take for granted that our customers have time and money constraints, we become doomed to failure.
Our customers will eventually tire of us and source out alternative options.
Dave Fuller, MBA is an award winning business coach and the author of the book Profit Yourself Healthy. Email him at dave@profityourselfhealthy.com.
